Batuuu's Posts (10)

I am sure that some of you are tired fo seeing my posts with regard to the books but what I am going to do is to come up with another one to make you discomfort and encourage to read more tha a book till the end of the year. Last year, at the begining of the year, i decided to your 100 books and i successfully read 102 books. as a matter of the fact that, the quality is over quantity when it comes to reading but coming up with some number is in fact a way of motivating us or forcing us to read. Within the duration of this year, I would like to read 120 books and so far i have read 100books. I hope and believe that I can read and enjoy reading the remains of the books I intend to read.

How about you? Do you love reading and Do you also have yearly goal to complete?

Human Acts was a book recommended by a friend of mine a couple of weeks along with another book for our October Challenge. Unfortunely this book was not selected as our first priority there. As a person who loved the author's previous book, The Vegeterian, This book gave me some goosebumps and i asked to friends to join my adventure and enjoy to read it along with me. I was expecting more members to read it along with us but somehow we as two people (NotAClue) started to read it and I have recently read it all. The book was as a different genre ,because I was expecting something similar to her previous book but this one was totally a different one. While reading this book, i traced /dated back to 1960s and 1970s in Turkey. The book was as to Gwangju Uprising in 1980 which was alternatively called as the May 18 Democratic Uprising by UNESCO. During this uprising, it is written that more than 4000 people were got harmed, more than 150 people were killed brutally and cruelly and more than 70 people were dissappered.As i said above, Turkey unfortunately has a couple of military coup attempts in 1960s, 1970s and 80s, and many people were killed, died and harmed and even some were executed. From this perspective, it was a similar scenario. If you would like to read a novel depicting and describing how the gov'ts carries out such thing, i highly recommend you to read "Seeing" book writen by Portugal Author Jose Saramago.

The book is consisted of the stories of eyewitness of this uprising. And all of them were very touching. You will feel their pains while reading it.The book was translated into Turkish as "çoçuk geliyor which means baby is coming to born". Seeing totally different name for different language made me curious about why such a name was used and i dropped by those significant remarks written by the author in the last chapters of the book for an illegal raid taken place in South Korea in 2009 and 9 people died. " "Gwangju had become anathor name for whatever is forcibly isolated, beaten down and brutalized, for all that has been mutilated beyond repair .The radioactive spread is ongoing.Gwangju had been REBORN only to be butchered again in an endless cycle.It was razed to the ground and raised up a new in a bloodied REBIRTH"

It is a book worth of reading but dont expect to read a lively and funny one.

“Some memories never heal. Rather than fading with the passage of time, those memories become the only things that are left behind when all else is abraded. The world darkens, like electric bulbs going out one by one. I am aware that I am not a safe person.”

“Bearing that in mind, the question which remains to us is this: what is humanity? What do we have to do to keep humanity as one thing and not another?”

Is it true that human. beings are fundamentally cruel? Is the experience of cruelty the only thing we share as a species ? Is the dignity. that we cling to nothing but self-delusion, masking from ourselves this single truth ;that each one of us is capable of being reduced to an insect , a ravening beast , a lump of meat ?To be degraded , damaged , slaughtered- is this the essential date of humankind , one which history has confirmed as inevitable ?

When. they first shoved us in and locked the doors behind us , not a single one of us dared to ask where they'd brought us ..

You look round at the old man. You don’t ask him if this is his granddaughter. You wait, patiently, for him to speak when he’s ready. There will be no forgiveness. You look into his eyes, which are flinching from the sight laid out in front of them as though it is the most appalling thing in all this world. There will be no forgiveness. Least of all for me.

It has been a while I havent come up with a new recommandation of book as well as a new blog post. Cairo Modern is a book written by the Eyptian Author Naguib Mahfouz, won the 1988 Nobel Prize for Literature and regarded as one of the first contemporary writers of Arabic literature to explore themes of existentialism. It is first book written by this author I have ever read. It was a book selected by a booklover from our whatsapp group. When the friend first came with this proposal of reading, it made me chuckle and also demoralized me as a consequence of being an unkown author but while reading it, it gave me some goosebumps , thrilled and impressed me very deeply...

Before giving some details as to the book, i have to say that, there are some impacts of Flaubert,Balzac, Zola, Camus, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky and Proust considering that he reads eloborative readings and reviews of books written by those authors. The one of most significant features of the books of the writer is that "the time" is an immovable and unchangeable theme and it is a subject constantly preoccupying the minds of the characters. In accordance with the works written by the author, the "time" generally is the worst comprade and companion and this grim reality is always reflected to the books.

To put it into simple terms, Cairo Modern is, ironic an satirical book. As the author creates a morality tale in which life's most basic guiding principles are still undetermined. The novel opens, four college students, all due to graduate that year, are arguing moral principles, one planning to live his life according to "the principles that God Almighty has decreed," while others argue in favor of science as the new religion, materialism, social liberation, and even love as guiding principles. None of the students have any respect for their government, which they see as "rich folks and major families."

Among the students, Mahgub Abd al-Da'im is the poorest, and he must literally starve himself in order to finish the school year, becoming more and emaciated as time passes. Finding a job upon graduation is a matter of his whole family's survival. When Mahgub contacts a former neighbor, Salim Al-Ikhshidi, for help, Al-Ikhshidi, in consultation with governmental higher-ups, presents a plan for Mahgub, who is in no position to be selective. If Mahgub will agree to marry the lover of a high-ranked government official and become part of a ménage a trois, all his expenses will be paid and a job will be guaranteed in the ministry where Al-Ikhshidi himself works. Desperately, Mahgub agrees, intending to "find satisfaction in a marriage that was a means, rather than an end." On his wedding day, he meets the bride--the former girlfriend of one of his closest friends, a girl his friend still loves.

Mahgub's marriage is filled with the expected complications as he tries to hide his poverty-stricken past and his betrayal of his college friend, at the same time that he is rising in the government, associating with wealthy and influential friends, and becoming arrogant, all sources of satire by Mahfouz. Mahgub and his wife become a perfect couple--"Each of us has sold himself in exchange for status and money."

The author criticizes the society of its country, the system of public administration , politics and so on. It is an amazin book to read and in lights of author's observations, you ll see how a country is and perhaps you can resemble it to your own society in which people kiss some asses to get a position.

Is there anybody who is in love with the books and reguarly read different genres of the books no matter whether it is fiction or non-fiction...I have been reading books for years and sometimes we have been reading some books in Turkish along with friends during some months within the scope of a reading challenge.

To the dictionaries, the notion of "politician" is described as a member of govermentment or a law-making organization. In all countries no matter what the system of government or management system is, there are politicians. You can see those politicians with different nationalities, skins, traditions or cultures in the United States, Latin america Countries , Europe or in any other countries in any continent. The most common, popular and mutual feature of these politicians is same; They all are liars and they almost all are the man of the position rather than being the man of the mission, liabilities and responsibilities. They are pretty good at blabbering, exaggerating and persuasion. Within the duration of the elections , those people show all of their skills to the citizens to get confused and convinced along with their promises and commitments.

To put it into simple terms, the space chances, the time chances, but the history repeats itself, All of politicians are always being greedy, arrogant and snob. They always forget where they come from . The blood,bleeding, slaughtering, harassment and hurting are their ways of the motivation. From the time of Adam to this century, the grim reality has never changed...

Is there any solution to get rid of this diseased individual? or Is it a requirement to have politicians in democratic governance? As a consequence of our free will, we choose/or select those people but the only thing they do is to rub salt in a wound and to put a strain on somenone's nerve.

Do you love reading non-fiction books? As a matter of the fact that, most of avid readers I know are into the fiction books, because, it seems to them that reading such books help them discover new lands, new cultures and new people better than non-fiction books. Another point is that we as human being are being deeply depressed and overwhelmed by the troubles of the real life.From this point of view, reading the genres I stated above is salvation for people.

Anyway, to speak in a direct or frank manner, I have recently found out the American philosopher Eric Hoffer, who died May 21, 1983.The Author has a very interesting and intriguing life story. He lost the eyesight of his eyes when he was seven years old with an unknown reasond and his eyesight returned abruptly when he turned into fifteen years old. With the fear of losing out the eyesight again, the author dedicated himself to the reading. In other words, he began to read voraciously. For the rest of his life, he found jobs as a migrant farm worker and a manual labourer. Throughout his life, he also wrote books attached above and was invited by some university as a speaker. Even though he never studied in a school and got educated officially, a position as a consultant was proposed by some universities.

I first read "The Ordeal of Change" written by Hoffer and his remarks impressed me deeply. The Ordeal of Change is a collection of 16 essays . All deal with political, social and philosophical ideas. The topics range from the origin and stimulus of political change, the working class and management, fanaticism, human nature and the ironies of individual freedom. Some quotes taken from the book via Goodreads are as follow; For your information, quotes were taken, because I read it in Turkish

“The individual's most vital need is to prove his worth, and this usually means an insatiable hunger for action. For it is only the few who can acquire a sense of worth by developing and employing their capacities and talents. The majority prove their worth by keeping busy.”

“It has been often said that power corrupts. But it is perhaps equally important to realize that weakness, too, corrupts. Power corrupts the few, while weakness corrupts the many. Hatred, malice, rudeness, intolerance, and suspicion are the fruits of weakness. The resentment of the weak does not spring from any injustice done to them but from the sense of their inadequacy and impotence. We cannot win the weak by sharing our wealth with them. They feel our generosity as oppression.”

“Seen as a process of imitation, it becomes understandable why the Westernization of a backward country so often breeds a violent antagonism toward the West. People who become like us do not necessarily love us. The sense of inferiority inherent in the act of imitation breeds resentment. The impulse of the imitators is to overcome the model they imitate—to surpass it, leave it behind, or, better still, eliminate it completely. Now and then in history the last was done first: the imitators began by destroying the model and then proceeded to imitate it. We are apparently most at ease when we imitate a defeated or dead model.”

“The Communist Manifesto condemned the bourgeoisie not only for pauperizing, dehumanizing, and enslaving the toiling masses, but also for robbing the intellectual of his elevated status. “The bourgeoisie has stripped of its halo every occupation hitherto honored and looked up to with reverent awe.” Though the movement was initiated by intellectuals and powered by their talents and hungers, it yet held up the proletariat as the chosen people—the only carrier of the revolutionary idea, and the chief beneficiary of the revolution to come. The intellectuals, particularly those who had “raised themselves to the level of comprehending theoretically the historical movement as a whole,” were to act as guides—as a composite Moses—during the long wanderings in the desert. Like Moses, the intellectuals would have no more to do once the promised land was in sight. “The role of the intelligentsia,” said Lenin, “is to make special leaders from among the intelligentsia unnecessary.”

The book is pretty good and I am sure that you will love it.

Another book giving popularity to the Hoffer is “The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements”. It is another book has spectacular and considerable remarks. The book seeks to explain the causes of mass movements and how political upheavals emerge predictably from psychological and sociological predispositions (inclinations). Some of remarkable quotes taken are stated as follow;

“Hatred is the most accessible and comprehensive of all the unifying agents. Mass movements can rise and spread without belief in a god, but never without a belief in a devil.”

“The quality of ideas seems to play a minor role in mass movement leadership. What counts is the arrogant gesture, the complete disregard of the opinion of others, the singlehanded defiance of the world.”

“A movement is pioneered by men of words, materialized by fanatics and consolidated by men of action.”

“The permanent misfits can find salvation only in a complete separation from the self; and they usually find it by losing themselves in the compact collectivity of a mass movement.”

“To wrong those we hate is to add fuel to our hatred. Conversely, to treat an enemy with magnanimity is to blunt our hatred for him”

“A man is likely to mind his own business when it is worth minding. When it is not, he takes his mind off his own meaningless affairs by minding other people's business. This minding of other people's business expresses itself in gossip, snooping and meddling, and also in feverish interest in communal, national, and racial affairs."

Furthermore, I would like to say more but these books are the ones I have recently read but they are worth of reading.

How are you all? The days are short during the whole year from my point of view but when it comes to this holy month "Ramadan", the duration of the days are perceived or sensed very long owing to the headache, hunger or the lack of concentration on something. To this aim, it is really being to difficult for me to read the books I intend to read during this month.

Anyway, do you love reading? Do you have a target for whole year within the scope of reading or do you count how many pages you read per month?Do you always think that the quality is over the quantity or do you believe that reading many books are also making you feel more contented and satisfied? I know that I asked so many questions but it is'nt the reason of existence on such a platform to share some opinions?

To cut this long story short, I would like to tell you that I decided to read 120 books at the beginning of the year and therefore, I passionaltely and gladly read fiction and non-fiction books each month. I have read 62 books up to know and as it is seen, there is still a long path to walk and a month of Sundays to read, though the half of year is almost slipped away. The May is nearly gone,it is just making its preparations to extend its farewells to its readers:) When we started to fast, it seemed to me that it would be too difficult to read books but apperantly , when you once gain/get the acquisition of reading , it is almost impossible not to read. In this regard, I just would like to show you what I read during the May and I will be glad if you let me and other readers know what you read so far. I have read ten books since the onset of the month and they are as follow;

1)The Religion Of Capital: A Satirical Expose of the Capital's Claims to Sanctity by Paul Lafargue.; The book i read included some other articles written by the author but the best part of the book was this section andto my observation, you can find this article as a book if you take a loon on the internet or in some bookstores. you can read some parts from the link attached :

2) How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky, Daniel Ziblatt: İf you love academic articles, I believe that you'll love this book. The book is mostly giving examples from the US but thhere are some examples from the latin america countries and the Europe.Along with the popularization of the populism and populist leaders, the book states that the countries are going to be more autocratical. The thing i didnt love about this book is that the book could have focused of the notions in a more detailed way for the illiterate but curios readers like me.

3)The Miner by Natsume Soseki: the author is a Japanese novelist. He is best known for his novels Kokoro, Botchan, I Am a Cat and his unfinished work Light and Darkness but I have just read Kokoro . The miner is a novel and it is a book about a kid run away from his house and found himself in a mining location. It is an interesting book and can let you see how the miners live and what they did.

4) The out by Pierre Rey: this book is quite old one and was publised in 1978. The book is too easygoing. it is like you are watching an action movie and it is about the sicilian mafia. To speak bluntly, I didnt like it, though it was higly recommended by a friend.

5)Populism: A Very Short Introduction byCas Mudde and Cristobal Rovira Kaltwasser: the book can be best book written for the populism ,because the author lets you know everything as to the notion of populism, its past and today's history around the world and its relationships with other things. I really enjoyed reading it and it is worth of reading If you are into this genre of books.

6) Populishm left and right by Eric Fassin: Can populism be attributed to the people, or rather the working class? Does the political mobilization of a frustrated and underemployed population bear tidings of increasing xenophobic resentment, or demands for socialist equality? The book give some opinions but it is a short book . It was nice but it still didn't make me satisfied.

7)On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy D. Snyder: To me, this is the easiest book written for this genre , because it is quite understandable and the author tries to shed the lights with 21 lessons as to the totalitarianism of the twentieth century.. you ll enjoy it

8)To Have or to Be by Erich From: it is a 1976 book by psychoanalyst Erich Fromm, in which he differentiates between having and being. I am still reading it but i have to say that it is not an easy-going book. You need time to comprehend what is written here.

There are 2 more books I have read but there is no translation in english , so i ll skip them

Recently ı have been reading books written by some asian authors. The first one was jananese author Haruki Murakami. He has amazing books and I was deeply impressed by his books. Afterwards, Natsume Sosseki impressed me deeply by his books.

To come to the point, the book "To live by Yu hua" is gaining the popularity day by day and to this aim, I started to read this book. It was an amazing book. You will feel the hunger, poverty, death, love, compasssion and many other things while reading and you feel for sure burst into tears.

Therefore, hurry up and read this book and let me know what you think if you have already read it...

Books are an integral part of my life. Without having them with me while going out or going work, i am feeling the absence of it like the absence of an organ of my body.I am not sure how it turns to be like that but I believe that doing an activity regularly for a while makes you feel like this.Do you love reading and if it is yes, how often do you read a book?Best regards....
Read more…